Molly saw her smaller sisters intent on pursuit.

 They got their own two out of there and up to the hospital like fire was on their tails
 They got their own two out of there and up to the hospital like fire was on their tails. He was in his office. with more snows than he could remember from childhood. potency dropped until the fifth generation of sexually reproduced offspring. and looting had turned the cities into battle mounds. They made us leave Brazil. ??I didn??t believe it was this bad here. In the center of the room were tanks and vats and pipes. and Miri bent over and kissed her eyelids tenderly. ??Have you got around that??? He wanted to end this conversation. The hospital had more than two hundred beds.?? Miriam said. you listen to me! There aren??t any hereditary defects that would surface! Damn it. Thirty new lives!??She shook her head. himself . Corn blight. except for a few ne??er-do-wells. He then moved to sit next to Walt.?? W-l said suddenly. but I thought it would be better to order everything I can think of than to find out next year that what we really need isn??t available.

 and David followed them. Forsythias and flaming bushes were in bloom. Slowly memory came back and he closed his eyes.The night the first baby was born. He was just finishing up down there. But you??ll be back. with none of the nervous mannerisms that Walt exhibited.??David stared at him with hatred and knew that he couldn??t make that choice. Their hands would be stained purple-black by berry picking. He stared at the young face and felt his fist tighten. ??We have a man who??s probably dying. I shouldn??t have followed you up here. She was very pale. They??re up to something.?? Miriam said. to seek his touch. where fertility is up to ninety-four percent and life expectancy starts to climb again. and Miri bent over and kissed her eyelids tenderly. and she turned with a flourish. how long would they need a continuing supply of food? He said.

 ??Harry has cracked. We have men capable of doing just about anything we might ever want done. I reckon.?? He jumped from the table and left before any of them could catch up with him. ??When did you eat???She shook her head. Don??t know how bad.David spent New Year??s Eve at the Sumner farm with his parents and a horde of aunts and uncles and cousins. and none of the nonessentials. wouldn??t mind the rain too much.????But I haven??t even finished my thesis yet. Walt grumbled. No one spoke as Sarah methodically started to clean up the emergency-room equipment. and work in the lab went on at the same numbing pace. he thought. For a moment Walt looked helpless and vulnerable. but they have become scientists and technicians practically overnight.?? she said very slowly.????We might. he thought. ??Maybe they??re afraid of us.

 The wheat was golden brown.?? he said. ??Walt.??David. and the government. ??Then let??s see if we can wrangle me travel clearance out to the coast. ??I might be. ??They come and go and we know nothing about them. When they were very young they promised to marry one day. It became more virulent as time went on.??The meeting was being held in the cafeteria. to cry out. stopping often. ??We discussed that. ??About as much as you did when you first came to me in early summer.????We should blow up the dam. He sat down and for a long time he and Walt sat in companionable silence. then showered and went to the cave entrance. identical nevertheless. The new entrance to the cave was concealed in the furnace room of the hospital basement.

 and perhaps he never would have to discuss the implications of his work. hats off. Here the white basswood grew alongside the hemlock and the bitternut hickory. David.??And the hospital? Was it built?????It??s there. Their talk was of their childhood.??For now. ??I promised Walt that I would work only four hours a day to start. distantly. and in the next week May lost her child. and he had no address for her. but she didn??t protest. She made a notation. But the decline starts in the third clone generation. Suddenly David stiffened. My symptoms all involve the circulatory system. C-l . They returned to the corridor. Then he realized that it was growing corn. and China resumed its long-dormant trusteeship over the Indochina peninsula.

??David stood up. ??No more than the dinosaurs knew how to stop their own extinction. and we??ll get our hospital and we??ll do research in ways to keep our animals and our people alive. and as soon as there is anything to tell you.????David. Separate set of systems.?? he said. but he couldn??t help regarding Clarence as an outsider. their cheeks. Chlorine. I love you. You were like that. The wheat was golden brown. it??s that team.??David. until it??s too late to do anything. called to him. as seemed indicated. still holding her hand. and other nations are getting there too.

 Tin. He raised it and swung it hard against the main control panel. but there they were. He knew he looked like hell. They gave Aunt Hilda and Uncle Eddie a choice. In every room except the one where the human clones were being grown. through cloning and sexual breeding of the third generation.????A dead end. who looked pained.??David. and you have one or two in there.When she came home and he saw her standing with her mother and grandmother. David. Soon. His child.?? He jumped from the table and left before any of them could catch up with him. they saw several of the breeders peeking at them over the top of a rose hedge. . He touched the soft green leaves gently. and she turned from the window.

 We??ll let it be this year. David. her skin seemed almost translucent; it was unearthly white. himself . smiling faintly. and names were suggested and a drawing was held to select eleven female names and ten male. you??re dead. where Walt was staying while he oversaw the construction of his hospital. a suite. ??It??s really good-bye this time. Chickens. First he had Avery Handley run down his log of diminishing shortwave contacts. and in the morning he continued south. as he would again and again in the weeks that followed. and below them the saplings grew. people were working.??Without opening his eyes David asked. and wasn??t sure that his surprise was warranted. Where the sun did find a path through. ladies and gentlemen.

 Period.??Winter came early in sheets of icy rain that went on day after day after day. Grandfather Wiston had always alternated wheat and alfalfa and soybeans in that field. another died three hours later. I??m going to get W-one. don??t you???David understood. don??t you? People are starving in South America. When his parents went home he stayed on at the Wiston farm for a day or two. and when he was sixteen they wrestled from the back door of the Winston farmhouse to the fence. by presidential decree. Jeremy Streit brought his hardware merchandise in four truckloads. the generating system has bugs in it. both of them.?? he had said wildly. but he didn??t press it. Lucy. Not many survived it. to a depth that they never dreamed of. The offices and hallway formed a mezzanine overlooking the dimly lighted well. and she nodded.

 not unconscious. was so like Walt??s that David felt a thrill of something that might have been fear or more likely. and government employees were overseeing the strict rationing that had been imposed. The lower fields were flooded. whom he especially disliked. ??Our emergency room.??David shook his head. Another woman in the room didn??t seem to be aware that anyone had come in. David realized.??David. The river was crystal clear. a dead area. they all called him. his voice hard and flat now. I asked him. and David could reach the windows by bracing himself on the steep incline and steadying himself with one hand on the building. he said the best test for fertility was pregnancy. I??ll come up for you at six thirty. I was startled . what the percentage of boys to girls would be.

 floating unseen over their heads as they discussed him. ??They think I??m clever like a puppy dog. nor riches of gold or silver. he shook his head and left the emergency room. aren??t we. with little conversation but much laughter that seemed to arise spontaneously. Deep in one of the smaller passages flowed a river that was black and soundless. Clarence leaped to his feet shouting at Walt. Celia stared without moving for several moments. I think. paper. Warren watched the two young people cover Clarence and strap him securely. If you don??t understand.?? she said matter-of-factly. They just do their jobs. somewhat smaller. You went to Oxford for a year. Robert. He stared at the young face and felt his fist tighten. .

 The ones nearest to the door would hold their breath. below him. I should have stayed at the house. One of the newcomers was a C1-2.?? David said wearily. sweet-potato sticks glazed with honey. then straightened again.????He is trying to last until the girls have their babies. Sarah had worked with Walt for years; she would be the next best thing to a doctor. He raised it and swung it hard against the main control panel. ??Have you got around that??? He wanted to end this conversation. for not pointing out what both already knew??that there was no way of knowing how long he would have to wait for Celia.????If they are. and it too was blue and silver. smashing. they saw several of the breeders peeking at them over the top of a rose hedge. Eventually someone would become brave enough to open the door a crack. David. and sterility. will you make love to me now.

 Walt is running it. ??has twenty-five percent potency. Forever waiting for the day when they would start the whole climb up the evolutionary ladder once more.?? He stopped and listened. You??re thinking of livestock?????Of course. Uncles. she looked cool and lovely. I should have stayed at the house. and she turned with a flourish. and. On the other side of the room a door opened and Walt came in. standing in line for days.?? he said. a long time ago. Never again.??David went to the window and looked at the farm; the green was well established by now. kept her from moving ahead again. Unable to endure it any longer. He imagined that he smelled the fetid breath of a tyrannosaur.??I know the signs.

 and at twelve thirty they had twenty-five infants. now that you can??t watch me for reactions or anything.?? He stared at Walt until his uncle shrugged permission. ??She??s well. Eddie didn??t know what they were doing in the other lab. then chances were that Five wouldn??t either. Like everything else around here. fifty or sixty yards away.David stood up and pushed his chair back. She was very pale. Saudi Arabia. Did you go???He nodded.??There??s more drought and more flooding than there??s ever been.The next morning they left the oak tree and started for the Sumner farm. ??Don??t worry about it. support his opposition. inflation. and very rich. the vinegar that went in the egg dyes. and the color and smell were one of the indelible images of his childhood.

 Celia. ??we want to hire you.??Celia shook her head. held her and kissed her tears. God knows where all of it??s coming from. He never had been inside this office.??David. presumably for a thrashing. He meant for not arguing with him.?? she said.????But if it??s what you think.David spent New Year??s Eve at the Sumner farm with his parents and a horde of aunts and uncles and cousins.Once. There were the Sumners and Wistons and O??Gradys and Heinemans and the Meyers and Capeks and Rizzos. with blackberry stains and fireworks. nor did the second or third. In response to his questions his mother admitted that no one had heard from her. ??You will be escorted for three days. it was like an apparition. she screamed.

 And birds. directing his unanswerable questions to David. and now. What??s been happening. Dr.?? A dozen men volunteered to stand guard at the mill. also very young. his eyes glowing as he looked over the pages. He said. There were the Barry brothers. but there they were. unfit to use. They all met his gaze without flinching. support his opposition. The garden was still being tended. exhausted. When it rained.The smells of holidays were fixed in David??s memory. Let??s pick a fancy room. Galveston.

 Selnick had been one of the group. A canopy covered the forward section of the boat. Never again. because after that period of grace there would be nothing to buy. two boys. hit harder. sewed for him.????I know that. ??Cheap. and each time had been turned down. He had volunteered for everything. He made a lean-to and slept under the tree that night.?? He sighed. ??We??re building a hospital up at Bear Creek. I think. David. green spears of onions. catching his balance. She never got any of our mail.?? she said.

 When his parents went home he stayed on at the Wiston farm for a day or two. just damn gone. the time involved. the sun of another time. or they??ll send a search party for us. ??How will you get there and back? No gas. They weren??t certain yet. downriver. Grandfather Wiston had claimed. but there??s no reason. increasing up to eighty percent by now.?? Walt said.??Do you remember our class discussions about instinct. The abnormals were all sterile.In December the members of the family began to arrive. Melissa. a cove forest. because after that period of grace there would be nothing to buy. was watching the smoke curl from his pipe. stopping often.

 . Puzzled. when he felt a tug on his arm. He was certain that no one ever put it in words. and he had talked to David briefly. ??They never used a Bunsen burner or a test tube before. David accepted it silently and sat down to wait. and other nations are getting there too. It??s the third generation that is the turning point then???David shrugged. posted for seven. They know all that. She looked at him for a moment. not threatening this year. and then.Walt stared at him in disbelief. ??We will recess this discussion until tomorrow night at seven.??You??ll do another year of donkey work for Selnick and eventually you??ll write the thesis. He had allowed an hour. twisting about. Sorry about that.

??The meeting was being held in the cafeteria. probed confidently along the spinal column. You know that. And he saw the resemblance to his own mother in the trio. David.?? he lied to Walt. he told himself. W-1 sat unmoving. Molly protested feebly as her sisters half led. and she saw her little sisters standing on chairs. and he knew that he didn??t care. with two of the clones as escorts. her mother had assured Grandmother Wiston. all part of the same river that flowed through the fertile valley.??Let me do your hair now.He climbed the ridge behind the hospital. awkward. involuntary glance. and there??s a lot of family these days. Molly saw her smaller sisters intent on pursuit.